>> I'm trying to decide between an AMD Barcelona or an Intel Harpertown >> quad-core CPU for a web/database server. The Intel would have a 5% >> lower clock speed. I've read that Harpertown outperforms Barcelona >> (by 20%?), but that the quad-core implementation isn't as good on the >> Harpertown. It's surprisingly difficult to get comparative benchmarks >> on these at similar clock speeds. Does anyone know which of these >> should perform better in a web/database server? I support AMD on my >> non-critical systems, but I need performance for this server. >> >> I'm also trying to decide between a 2.5" 10k HD vs. a 3.5" 15k HD. >> I've read that the 15k yields about a 20% I/O performance boost so I >> think I'll go for it. I won't be using RAID at all. >> >> - Grant > >> I won't be using RAID at all. > If uptime is of no concern to you, then why even bother about speed?
Of course uptime is a concern, but it needs to be put into perspective. Let's assume that without RAID, the hard drive in use fails every 3 years and causes 24 hours of downtime with good backups. That's a loss of .09% uptime over 3 years. If the server makes $100,000/year (and the same amount every day), that's a loss of $273 over 3 years. However, my host wants $105/month for a second 15k hard drive and RAID controller card. The cost of that over 3 years is $3,780. Plus I like to keep things simple and RAID is another layer to learn, install, and maintain. Plus RAID isn't foolproof: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/10/21/2126252&from=rss http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=162 Any opinions on Barcelona vs. Harpertown or 10k vs. 15k? - Grant
